The Carrick Exchange is a new online service that will provide learning and teaching resources and support communication and collaboration across the national and international higher education sector.

The Carrick Exchange is a hub for the exchange of ideas about teaching practice in the Australian higher education sector. It is a place to explore, discover and experiment with issues, technologies, processes and ideas.

Most importantly, the Carrick Exchange is about connecting people with people, providing opportunities to share knowledge and know-how, and to contribute to the Carrick Exchange knowledge store.

The Carrick Exchange is a space where you can share the wealth of your personal experiences of teaching students with differing needs and in various contexts. It is a space to contribute, discuss and debate.

Back to Top

The Carrick Exchange is primarily for those who teach, manage and lead learning and teaching in higher education.

Who can be a member of the Carrick Exchange?

Anyone in the wider community can access the public view of the Exchange, to search and view content. Non-members, however, cannot contribute to the Exchange.

To be a member you must:

• Be eligible to join - i.e. be directly involved in ALTC related activities or projects, the grants scheme, or an ALTC Fellow.
• Be provided with the generic access details by your project leader, or have received the details from the User Support Manager.
• Enter the generic details and then register to become a member of the Exchange. (See ‘Registration' below.)
• Continue to add both your personal login details and the generic login details (in that order) each time you log in to the Exchange after you have successfully registered and set up your own personal profile on the Exchange.

For the present time, the ‘double login' process is to manage a staged uptake of the Exchange. For more details about this or to gain the access details so you register, contact:

The User Support Manager:
info@carrickexchange.edu.au

or The Help Desk
help@carrickexchange.edu.au

Back to Top

Back to Top

• access to quality-assured teaching and learning resources through search and browsing
• ability to save and bookmark resources to your personal MyExchange area
• access to information about new technologies that impact on teaching practice and student learning experiences
• opportunities to comment on and exchange ideas about the relevance and usefulness of particular teaching modes, resources and strategies
• opportunities to participate in discussions, debate and dialogue about the scholarship of teaching and learning

Back to Top

If you have any trouble, please email or call the help desk.

Help desk

Email: help@carrickexchange.edu.au

Phone: (08) 8334 3289

(Mon- Fri, Central Standard Time, 9am - 5pm)

Back to Top

To register with the Carrick Exchange:

1. Click on Login or Join on the top right-hand side of the Carrick Exchange home page. The User account page is displayed.
2. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as required.

   Title*	Your title, e.g. Mr, Ms, Dr.
   First name*	Your first name.
   Last name*	Your surname.
   My Interests	Terms that describe your interests, e.g. graphic design, intellectual property.
   Username*	Your preferred username. The only punctuation that you can use is a full stop, hyphen or underscore.
   Email address*	Your email address.
   Organisation name*	Your primary place of work.

3. Click on the Accept terms & conditions of use check box.
4. Click on the Join the Exchange button. You will receive an email containing your password.

Back to Top

To log in:

1. Click on the Login button on the top right-hand side of the screen.
2. Enter your username in the Username field in the User Account page.
3. Enter your password in the Password field in the User Account page.
4. Click on the Login button in the User Account page.

Back to Top

After you first log in, you should add information to your profile page.

Back to Top

If you forget your password, you can request a new password as follows:

1. Click on Login or join in the top right-hand side of the Carrick Exchange home page.
2. Click on the Request new password tab in the User account page.
3. Enter your username or email address.
4. Click on the Email new password button.
   You will receive an email that has the following subject: Replacement login information. This email contains a login link that you can use only once.
5. Click on the login link in the email. The Reset password page opens.
6. Click on the Login button in the Reset password page. Your profile page opens. You can now change your password (see: How do I change my password?).

Back to Top

To change your password:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyProfile.
2. Click on the Edit tab in the My Account page.
3. Click on the Account Settings link.
4. Enter your new password in the Password field.
5. Re-enter your new password in the Confirm password field.
6. Click the Submit button.

Back to Top

To invite a person to join the Carrick Exchange:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyInvitations.
2. Enter the invitee's email address in the Email(s) field.

Note: You can invite more than person at a time. Enter each person's email address on a separate line.

3. If you want to send the invitee a message, enter it in the Your message field.
4. Click on the Submit button. An invitation email is sent to the invitee.

All of your invitations are listed under MyInvitations on the right-hand side of your MyExchange page. Each invitation has a status:

• Joined: The invitee has accepted your invitation and has joined the Carrick Exchange. This person's username is automatically added to your colleagues list. A system message will inform you that this person has joined the Carrick Exchange.
• Pending: The invitee has still not accepted the invitation to register. If you want to delete the pending invitation, click on the Delete invitation link.
• Expired: The invitee has not accepted the invitation to register within the expiration period. If you want to delete an expired invitation, click on the Delete invitation link.

Back to Top

To log out, click on the Logout button in the top right-hand side of the screen.

Back to Top

In the Carrick Exchange, you can browse for:

• Resources
• People
• Groups
• Vocabularies and tags
• What's new

Back to Top

To search for a group:

1. Go to the search box on the top right-hand side of the screen.
2. Click on Groups.
3. Enter the name of the group in the search box.
4. Click on the button.

You can search for a private group only if you are a member of the private group.

Back to Top

To search for a resource:

1. Go to the search box on the top right-hand side of the screen.
2. Click on Resources.
3. Enter the search term in the search box.
4. Click on the button.

Back to Top

To search for a person or an organisation:

1. Go to the search box on the top right-hand side of the screen.
2. Enter the first name, the last name or the name of the organisation.
3. Click on the button.

Back to Top

To search other sites:

1. Click on the Search other sites link at the top right-hand side of the screen.
2. Enter your search term in the search box. The following institutions are selected by default:
   
   • Carrick Institute Document Repository
   • Carrick Institute website
   • edna Higher Education
   • Enhancing Assessment in the Biological Sciences
   • Intute (UK)
   • MERLOT (USA)
   If you do not want to search a particular institution, remove the tick in the check box next to its name.
3. Click on the Search button. The summaries of the first 10 results are displayed. To see the full article, click on the title. To see the next 10 articles, click the on next > button at the bottom of the results.

If you want to refine the search results to a particular institution:

1. Click on the Get More Results link at the top of the search results.
2. Click on the name of the applicable institution. The search results only for the selected institution are displayed.

Back to Top

Characters

You must include at least one term with three characters or more.

Quotation marks

If you want to search for an exact phrase, enclose it in quotation marks. For example, if you enter the term "exam results", only the records that have exam and results next to each other will be displayed. If you enter exam results without the quotation marks, both words will be displayed in the search results, but they will not necessarily be next to each other.

OR

If you place the word OR between two terms, at least one of the two terms will be displayed in the search results (if the search was successful). For example, searching on learning OR teaching will result in search results that contain learning or teaching, or learning and teaching.

Case sensitivity

The search function is not case sensitive. Searches for student, Student and STUDENT will return the same results.

Back to Top

An article is information that is relevant for a specific period of time, for example, announcements and notices.

An article consists of a title, a teaser and a body. The teaser is the opening paragraph of the article. It is meant to grab the reader's attention. If readers want to see the rest of the article, they can click on the title.

See also:

• How do I create an article?
• How do I delete an article?

Back to Top

1. Go to Contribute Content > Create article in the left-hand navigation bar. The Create article form is displayed.
2. Enter information in the fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. The other fields are optional. Enter information in these fields as applicable.
   

   Topic*	The title of the article. Enter a concise, descriptive title.
   Body*	The text of the article.
   Assign Categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your article.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your article. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your content to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick from the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   Attach files	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to your article.

3. If you want to see what the article will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish your article, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

You can only delete articles that you have created. To delete an article:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Locate the article that you want to delete and open it.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button if you are sure that you want to delete the article.

Once you delete an article, you cannot undo the deletion.

Back to Top

A blog (short for web log) is an online journal where you can:

• communicate your thoughts and opinions about learning and teaching in the higher education sector
• share your knowledge about particular facets of learning and teaching in the higher education sector

As a Carrick Exchange user, you have your own blog which is generated after you create your first blog entry. A blog entry is like an online journal entry. The latest blog entry is displayed first.

You can access your blog by either going to MyExchange > MyBlog or clicking on thelink at the bottom of a blog entry. In your blog, you can create blog entries, view the blog entries that you have created and respond to comments that other users have added to your blog entries.

See also:

• How do I create a blog entry?
• How do I delete my blog entry?

Back to Top

To create a blog entry:

1. Do one of the following to open the Create blog entry form:
   • Go to Contribute content > Create blog entry on the left-hand navigation bar.
   • Go to MyExchange > MyBlog and then click on Create blog entry.
2. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as required.
   

   Title*	The title should be concise and summarise your blog entry.
   Body*	The text of your blog entry.
   Assign Categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your blog entry.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your blog entry. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your blog entry to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick from the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   Attach files	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to your blog entry.

3. If you want to see what the blog entry will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish the blog entry, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

You can only delete a blog entry that you have created. To delete your blog entry:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyBlog.
2. Click on the title of the applicable blog entry.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button at the bottom of the form. Are you sure you want to delete? is displayed.
5. Click on the Delete button if you want to delete this blog entry.

Once you have deleted your blog entry, you cannot undo the deletion.

Back to Top

A bookmark is a shortcut to the web address of a Carrick Exchange page. By creating bookmarks, you have an easy way to return to Carrick Exchange pages that you find interesting without having to remember their web addresses.

See also:

What is the difference between a bookmark and a weblink?

How do I add a bookmark?

How do I view my bookmarks?

How do I delete one of my bookmarks?

Back to Top

A weblink is a shortcut to an external web page. By creating weblinks, you have an easy way to return to external web pages that you find interesting without having to remember their web addresses.

See also:

How do I create a weblink?

How do I delete a weblink?

Back to Top

A bookmark is a shortcut to a Carrick Exchange page.

A weblink is a shortcut to an external web page.

Back to Top

To add a bookmark:

1. Find and open the resource that you want to bookmark.
2. Click on the Bookmark this item link.
3. Enter the title of the bookmark in the Bookmark title field.
4. Enter the description of the bookmark in the Description field.
5. If you want to see what your bookmark will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish your bookmark, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

To view your bookmarks, go to MyExchange > MyBookmarks.

Back to Top

To delete one of your bookmarks:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyBookmarks.
2. Locate the bookmark that you want to delete.
3. Click on the Delete button under the bookmark's name.

Back to Top

To create a weblink:

1. Go to Contribute content > Submit weblink on the left-hand navigation bar. The Submit weblink form is displayed.
2. Enter information in the fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as applicable.
   

   Web address*	The web address (URL) e.g. http://www.carrickinstitute.edu.au.
   Title*	The title of the web resource.
   Description*	The title of the weblink as it displays on the resource.
   Add Author / Publisher / Date	The name of the person or organisation: responsible for the intellectual content of the resource (if known) that has published the resource (if known) For personal names enter, the last name, a comma and then the first name, e.g. Smith, John. The date the web resource was published or last updated, (if available), e.g. 1998.
   Add type of resource	The type of resource, e.g. lesson, lecture, Carrick Institute Award. Choose a resource if applicable.
   Assign Categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your weblink.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your weblink. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want the weblink to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the weblink, remove the tick from the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the weblink, leave the tick in the Public check box.

3. If you want to see what your weblink will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish your weblink, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

You can only delete weblinks that you have created. To delete a weblink:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Locate the weblink and click on its title.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button.

Once you delete a weblink, you cannot undo the deletion.

Back to Top

A book is a dynamic, collaborative, online document. It has an underlying hierarchical structure that consists of:

• a top level from which all book pages branch off
• parent pages with child pages

The hierarchical structure is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen when you open a book (see example below).

Books have the following features:

• Book outline - hierarchical order of content
• Auto-navigation - next, previous, and up links
• Printer-friendly view - text without navigation blocks
• Book navigation - hierarchy of book pages and where you are currently in the book
• Comments - readers can comment on a particular page, section or the whole book

See also:

• How do I create a book?
• How to I add content to a book?
• How do navigate through a book?
• How do I delete a book?
• What is the difference between a book and a wiki?

Back to Top

A wiki is a collaborative, knowledge-sharing tool that is available to group members.

A group member can create a wiki and other group members can edit or update the wiki content.

Wikis reflect the collective knowledge of the group members who have contributed the content.

Example

A group has organised a conference to be held in North Sydney. Group members will be coming from all over Australia to attend the conference.

User A, who is a train commuter in Sydney, creates a wiki titled Travel information and adds information about trains to North Sydney.

User B, who is a bus commuter in Sydney, adds information about North Sydney buses. User B's revision overrides User A's revision to become the current revision.

User C, who uses private transport in Sydney, adds information about driving to North Sydney. User C's revision overrides User B's version to become the current revision.

The wiki comes to reflect the collective knowledge of User A, User B and User C.

See also:

How do I create a wiki?

How do I edit a wiki?

How do I revert to an earlier revision of a wiki?

How do I delete a wiki revision?

Can I delete a wiki?

Back to Top

• The book content type is available to all users. The wiki content type is only available to users who are members of a group.
• A book has a hierarchy of parent pages and child pages. A wiki does not have a hierarchical structure.
• Books are useful for reference material, e.g. manuals, policies and lecture notes. Wikis are useful for sharing knowledge, e.g. meeting agenda items and notes.
• Only the user who creates a book page can edit that book page. Any member of the group can edit the wiki content.
• Users can revert to an earlier revision of a wiki, but they cannot revert to an earlier revision of a book page.

Back to Top

To create a book:

1. Go to Contribute content > Create book and pages on the left-hand navigation bar.
2. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as applicable.
   

   Title*	The title should be concise and summarise your book.
   Parent*	The book is the top level in the book's hierarchy.
   Book page content	The text that will appear in the front page of your book.
   Add type of resource	The type of resource, e.g. lesson, lecture, Carrick Institute Award. Choose a resource if applicable.
   Assign categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your book.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your book. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your content to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick from the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   Attach files	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to your book.

3. If you want to see what your book will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish your book, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

To add content to a book:

1. Either choose Contribute content > Create book and pages from the left-hand navigation bar.
   
   or
   
   Find the applicable book, click on the book's title, navigate to where you want to add the book page, and then click on the Add child page link at the bottom of the book.
2. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as required.

   Title*	The title should be concise and summarise your book page.
   Parent*	The name of the applicable book or parent page in the book.
   Book page content*	The content of your book page.
   Add type of resource	The type of resource, e.g. lesson, lecture, Carrick Institute Award. Choose a resource if applicable.
   Assign categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your book page.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your book page. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your content to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick in the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   File Attachments	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to the book page.

3. If you want to see what the book page will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish the book page, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

You can use the following features to navigate through a book:

• table of contents
• navigation links
• navigation block

Back to Top

You can delete a book only if the administrator has allowed you to access the Delete button in the book.

Once you delete a book, you cannot undo the deletion. If other users have contributed content to the book, you should check with them before you delete the book.

To delete a book:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Locate and open the applicable book.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button at the bottom of the form. The message Are you sure you want to delete book? is displayed.
5. Click on the Delete button if you are sure that you want to delete the book.

Back to Top

To create a wiki:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyGroups.
2. Click on the applicable group's name.
3. Click on Create new wiki entry in the group description block on the left-hand side of the page.
4. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as applicable.
   

   Wiki title*	The title of the wiki. Enter a concise, descriptive title.
   Wiki content*	The text of your wiki.
   Reason for entry	Why you are creating the wiki.
   Assign Categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your wiki.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your wiki. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your content to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick in the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   Attach files	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to your wiki.

5. If you want to see what the wiki will look like when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to submit the page, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

Any group member can edit a wiki. A new revision is created each time the wiki is edited.

To edit a wiki:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyGroups.
2. Click on the applicable group's name.
3. Go to Group tools on the right-hand side of the group's home page and click on View or edit wiki topics.
4. Click on the title of the applicable wiki.
5. Click on the Edit tab.
6. Make the required change.
7. Enter your reason for making the change in the Reason for entry field.
8. Click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

To revert to an earlier revision of a wiki:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyGroups.
2. Click on the applicable group's name.
3. Click on View or edit wiki topics in the Group tools block on the right-hand side of the page.
4. Locate the applicable wiki and open it.
5. Click on the Revisions tab.
6. Click on the revert link next to the applicable revision date.
7. Click on the Revert button if you are sure that you want to make this revision the current revision.

Back to Top

To delete a wiki revision:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyGroups.
2. Click on the applicable group's name.
3. Click on View or edit wiki topics in the Group tools block on the right-hand side of the page.
4. Click on the title of the applicable wiki.
5. Click on the Revisions tab.
6. Click on the Delete link next to the revision that you want to delete.
7. Click on the Delete button if you are sure that you want to delete this revision.

Back to Top

Only content moderators, site administrators and super administrators can delete wikis.

Back to Top

To add a calendar event:

1. Go to Contribute content > Create calendar event in the left-hand navigation bar.
2. Enter information in fields that have an asterisk (*). These fields are mandatory. Enter information in the other fields as applicable.
   

   Web address	The web address (URL) where information about the event is published.
   Title*	The title of the event.
   Description*	A short description of the event.
   Start date/End date	The start and end dates of the event.
   Location	Where the event will be held, i.e. the address.
   Type of event	A drop-down list of event types, e.g. lecture.
   Add Organiser/Publisher	The name of the person or organisation responsible for organising the event.
   Assign categories	Vocabularies (Discipline Communities, Learning and Teaching, Leadership and Change, Technologies for Learning) from which you can choose categories to classify your calendar event.
   Assign tags	Terms (tags) that describe your calendar event. If you enter more than one tag, insert a comma between the tags.
   Post to groups	If you want your content to be displayed in one or more of your groups, tick the check box next to the group's name. The Public check box is only for private groups. If you only want the private group to view the content, remove the tick from the Public check box. If you want the private group and all other users to view the content, leave the tick in the Public check box.
   Attach files	You can upload a file from your computer and attach it to your calendar event.

3. Click on the Submit button.

See also:

• How do I view calendar events?
• Can I download calendar events?
• How do I delete a calendar event?

Back to Top

To view site-wide calendar events:

1. Go to the calendar at the bottom left-hand side of the screen. The current month is displayed.
2. If you want to look at a previous month, click on previous until you reach the month. If you want to look at a future month, click on next until you reach the month. Calendar days associated with an event are bold.
3. Double-click on the applicable calendar day. The calendar event details for this day are displayed.

To view calendar events for a group:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyGroups.
2. Click on the name of the applicable group.
3. Click on the name of the applicable event in the Group events block on the right-hand side of the page.

Back to Top

You can download a calendar event to any application that recognises icalendar (a standard for calendar data exchange).

To download your calendar event:

1. Open the site-wide or group calendar.
2. Click on the calendar icon at the bottom right-hand side of the calendar.
3. Choose the application where you want to download the calendar event and click OK.

Back to Top

You can delete a calendar event only if you created it. To delete a calendar event:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Locate the event that you want to delete and click on its title.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button at the bottom of the form.
5. Click on the Delete button under Are you sure you want to delete ...?

Back to Top

A colleague is a regular contact in the Carrick Exchange. You can add the names of your regular contacts to a colleagues list (MyColleagues). In this way, you can keep track of:

• when your colleagues are online
• what your colleagues have recently posted
• what details your colleagues have added to their profile pages
• who are the colleagues of your colleagues

See also:

• How do I add a user to my colleagues list?
• How do I remove a user from my colleagues list?

Back to Top

To add a user to your colleagues list:

1. Locate the user. To see a list of users, go to People > All people on the left-hand navigation bar.
2. Click on the user's username. The user's profile page is displayed.
3. Click on the following link: Add <username> to my colleague list.
4. Click on the Add button. The user will receive a system message stating that you want to add them to your colleague list. If the user accepts your request, their username will appear in your colleagues list and your username will appear in their colleagues list.

Back to Top

To remove a user from your colleagues list:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyColleagues. A list of your colleagues is displayed.
2. Click on the name of the colleague that you want to remove from your list.
3. Click on the following link: Remove <username> from my colleague list.
4. Click on the Remove button.

Back to Top

To add a comment to a resource:

1. Find and open the applicable resource.
2. Click on the Add new comment button at the bottom of the form.
3. Enter the subject of your comment in the Subject field.
   If you leave the Subject field blank, the system inserts the first few words that are in the Comment field.
4. Enter your comment in the Comment field.
5. Click on the Preview comment button if you want to see how your comment will look like when it is published. Click on the Post comment button if you want to post the comment.

See also:

• How do I reply to a comment?
• Can I edit my comment?
• How do I delete my comment?

Back to Top

To reply to a comment:

1. Find the resource that has the comment.
2. Go to the comment and click on the reply link.
3. Enter the subject of your comment in the Subject field.
   If you leave the Subject field blank, the system inserts the first few words that are in the Comment field.
4. Enter your comment in the Comment field.
5. Click on the Preview comment button if you want to see how your comment will look like when it is published. Click on the Post comment button if you want to publish the comment.

Back to Top

You can edit your comment if no other user has replied to it. If a user replies to your comment, the edit link is no longer available for this comment.

To edit your comment:

1. Find the applicable resource and go to your comment.
2. Click on the edit link.
3. Edit your comment.
4. Click on the Post comment button.

Back to Top

Comments cannot be deleted.

Back to Top

Traditional websites

Contributing content to traditional websites normally involves:

1. The author providing information to a web developer.
2. The web developer creating HTML pages.
3. The web developer uploading the HTML pages to a server.

Carrick Exchange web application

In the Carrick Exchange, users directly contribute content. There is no need for a web developer to create HTML pages and upload them.

The Carrick Exchange content creation interface is intuitive. Anyone who has used word processing applications (such as Microsoft Word) should be able to easily create content. As users create content, underlying HTML is automatically created. No HTML knowledge is required.

Experienced HTML users can enter HTML directly.

Back to Top

1. Click on the down arrow down arrow next to Contribute content in the left-hand navigation bar.
2. Click on the type of content that you want to create, e.g. Create poll. The content creation form opens. You can now enter content.

Back to Top

You can only edit content that you have created.

To edit content:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Click on the title of the content that you want to edit.
3. Click on the Edit tab or button.
4. Make the required changes.
5. If want to see what your content will look when it is published, click on the Preview button. If you want to publish your content, click on the Submit button.

Back to Top

You can only delete content that you have created. Once you delete content, you cannot undo the deletion.

To delete existing content:

1. Go to MyExchange > MyContributions.
2. Click on the title of the content that you want to delete.
3. Click on the Edit tab.
4. Click on the Delete button at the bottom of the form.
5. Click on the Delete button under the message: Are you are sure that you want to delete <title>?

Back to Top

The Weight field allows you to control the order in which the following items appear: pages in a book (only for content moderators) fields in a survey form blocks in your MyExchange page The Weight field contains a weight scale that goes from lighter weights (negative numbers) to heavier weights (positive numbers). Items with lighter weights will come before items with heavier weights. If you do not assign a weight, the items will appear in alphabetical order. The weights are relative to each other. For example, assigning an item a weight of -10 and a second item a weight of -9 has the same effect as assigning the first item a weight of 4 and the second item a weight of 5 (-10 is lighter than -9, and 4 is lighter than 5). The default is zero (0). The weight that you select is displayed on top of the scale. See the example on the left-hand side.

Back to Top

When you click on the Preview button at the bottom of a content creation form, you can see what your content will look like when it is published. What you see depends on how many characters your content contains. If your content exceeds a pre-defined teaser length (currently 600 characters), you will see the following:

• Preview a trimmed version of your content (teaser). The teaser text is a pre-defined number of characters of the body text. Teasers are meant to grab the attention of the readers. If readers want to see the rest of the content, they can click on the title. Teasers are displayed in search results, on the Carrick Exchange home page and in RSS feeds.
• Preview a full version of your content. You can see what all of the text that you have entered will look like when it is published on the Carrick Exchange.

If your content does not exceed the pre-defined teaser length, only the full version of your content will be displayed in the Preview page.

Back to Top

When you create content and then click on the Submit button, your content is published on the Carrick Exchange.

Back to Top

Before you can insert an image in your content, you must upload the image.

Uploading image

To upload an image:

1. Click on the image icon in the rich-text editor toolbar.
2. Click on the browse icon on the right-hand side of the Image URL field in the insert/edit image dialog box.
3. Click on the Browse button at the bottom left-hand side of the image/file browser.
4. Browse for the image file, select it and click on the Open button in the file upload dialog box.
5. Ensure that the Scale if necessary check box in the image/file browser is ticked.
6. Click on the Upload File button. The image file is placed in a directory in the top section of the image/file browser.
   The Dimensions for scaling field at the bottom of the image/file browser displays the maximum width and height allowed for an image. If your image exceeds these dimensions, it will be scaled down.

A Resize image field is displayed under Dimensions for scaling in the lower left-hand corner of the image/file browser. If you want to resize the image, ensure that the dimensions are lower than those displayed in Dimensions for scaling.

Inserting new image

After you click on the Upload File button, Upload successful appears above your image in the centre of the image/file browser. To insert this image:

1. In the rich-text editor, place the cursor where you want the image to be inserted.
2. In the image/file browser, click on the image or click on the add link on the right-hand side of the image file title. The insert/edit image dialog box is displayed.
3. Click on the Insert button.

Inserting existing image

To insert an image that was previously uploaded:

1. Click on the image icon in the rich-text editor toolbar.
2. Go to the directory at the top of the image/file browser.
3. Scroll through the image file names and select the applicable one. The image appears in the middle section of the image/file browser.
4. Click on the image click or click on the add link on the right-hand side of the image file title. The insert/edit image dialog box is displayed.
5. Click on the Insert button at the bottom of the insert/edit image dialog box.

Back to Top

Use a graphics program on your computer to resize the image and then upload it, or use the Resize image function.

To access the Resize image function:

1. Click on the Insert/edit image icon in the rich-text editor.
2. Click on the browse icon on the right-hand side of the Image URL field of the Insert/edit image dialog box.
3. In the image/file browser, click on the applicable image filename. A Resize image field is displayed at the bottom of the image/file browser.
4. Enter the dimensions (width x height) in the Resize image field. Ensure that the dimensions are equal to or lower than those displayed in Dimensions for scaling.
5. If you want to make a copy of the image and retain the original image, tick the Create a copy check box.
6. Press the Enter key on your keyboard.

Uploading a large image and then resizing it with the Resize image function may affect the quality of the image. Use a graphics program on your computer to resize the image, and then upload it.

Back to Top

You can upload image files that have the following file extensions:

• jpg
• gif
• png

Back to Top

The rich-text editor allows you to use standard word processing tools to create content in a HTML environment.

The rich-text editor consists of two editors:

• A text editor where you can format text (bold, italics, lists and so on).
• A HTML editor that contains source code.

When you add and format text in the text editor, underling HTML source code for your text is automatically created in the HTML editor. The word Path followed by one or more characters (e.g. Path: p) displayed on the bottom left-hand side of the rich-text editor indicates the underlying HTML source code. You do not have to look at the HTML editor.

If you are familiar with HTML, you can use the HTML editor to add and edit HTML code. To access the HTML editor, click on the icon. For information about the allowed HTML tags, click on the More information about HTML tags link under the rich-text editor.

Please note: If you do not know how to use HTML, you are advised not to use the HTML editor.

Back to Top

The rich-text editor is enabled by default. The following toolbar appears at the bottom of the rich-text editor.

The toolbar contains icons that are normally found in word processing applications.

Back to Top

To apply a pre-defined format to your text, select the text and choose the format from the drop-down list on the bottom right-hand side of the text editor.

You can use the formatting icons in the toolbar to format your text.

To undo your last action, press Ctrl+Z. If you decide you did not want to undo an action, press Ctrl+Y.

Back to Top

The rich-text editor contains the following tools for pasting content copied from other applications:

• Paste as plain text
• Paste from Microsoft Word

Back to Top

To add a link to another Carrick Exchange page:

1. In the text editor, select the text you want to become the link.
2. Click on the link icon on the toolbar to display the link dialog box. The Popup, Events and Advanced tabs in the link dialog box are related to Javascript. You do not need to use these tabs. You should only need to enter information in the General properties fields displayed below.

   Link URL	The URL (web address) of the destination page.
   Anchor	A link to text on the same page. This functionality is not currently enabled in the text editor.
   Target	Where you want the link to open. Open in this window / frame is the default setting and opens the link in the existing page. Open in new window (_blank) opens a new window. The parent window and top frame settings only apply to pages with frames -- you do not need to use these fields.
   Title	If you want a title to display when users place their mouse over the link, enter a title.
   Class	Classes are associated with the style sheet. Use the default of Not set. Choosing an option other than Not set may affect how the link is displayed.

3. Click on the Insert button.

Back to Top

To remove a link:

1. Select the link text.
2. Click on the unlink icon.

Back to Top

To add a table:

1. In the text editor, click where you want to add the table.
2. Click on the insert table icon. In the following fields, specify how you want the table to look:
   

   Columns	The number of columns in the table.
   Rows	The number of rows in the table.
   Cell spacing	The amount of space (in pixels) between the table cells. A value of 0 should be sufficient.
   Cell padding	The amount of space (in pixels) between the content and the table borders.
   Alignment	How text in table cells is aligned (left, right or centre).
   Border	If set to 0, the table has no borders. The larger the number, the thicker the border.
   Width	The width of the table - 80% or 90% is preferable.
   Height	The height of the table.
   Class	Classes are associated with the style sheet. Use the default of Not set. Choosing an option other than Not set may affect how the table is displayed.
   Table caption	If you want your table to have a caption, place a tick in the check box. When you enter the caption, it is displayed above the table.

3. Click on the Insert button.

You can use the table formatting icons on the toolbar to format your table. If you right-click on a table, you can also see these icons.

Back to Top

To delete a table, right-click on the table and choose Delete table from the drop-down menu.

Back to Top

You can upload the following types of file:

• .acc (MS Image Composer)
• .avi (Audio Visual Interleave movie)
• .doc (Microsoft Word documents)
• .docx (Microsoft Word 2007 XML-based document
• .gif (Graphical Interchange Format)
• .html (Hypertext Markup Language)
• .jpeg (JPEG image)
• .jpg (JPEG Image)
• .mov (Apple QuickTime Movie file)
• .mp3 (Compressed audio, music file)
• .mp4 (Compressed audio, music file)
• .mpa (Compressed audio, music file)
• .mpp (Compressed audio, music file)
• .odp (OpenDocument presentation)
• .odt (OpenDocument text document)
• .ods (OpenDocument spreadsheet)
• .pdf (Portable Document Format)
• .